Reality of Pata's death hits Canes hard
Grieving Miami suffered another loss on Saturday, but the reality of Bryan Pata's death hurts much more, writes Mark Schlabach.
Miami Comeback Over Maryland Falls Short
COLLEGE PARK, Md. -- Even after Miami's week of hell, in which the Hurricanes' grieved the murder of popular defensive lineman Bryan Pata and then lost the otherwise meaningless football game it had dedicated to him, linebacker Jon Beason knew things were about to get worse.
On Monday, Miami's players and coaches will see Pata's body for the first time since he was gunned down Tuesday night in a parking lot outside his apartment. The following day, they'll attend his funeral at a North Miami church. On Wednesday, there will be a memorial service on campus to remember Pata and another student killed in a car accident.
"It doesn't make any sense," Beason said, a few minutes after the Hurricanes lost to Maryland 14-13 at Byrd Stadium, their third consecutive loss. "You look for answers and you can't find them. We don't deserve this."
Miami's season of discontent turned tragic shortly after its practice Tuesday. Pata, a senior who grew up in Miami, was shot several times in the head and died instantly. Miami police haven't yet arrested the shooter and haven't said whether they have identified a motive.
Miami's players are still searching for reasons, but coach Larry Coker said reality might have set in shortly before Saturday's game.
"Most of us feel like we're going to live forever. Young guys like that know they're invincible. To not have him there was reality."
Miami defensive end Calais Campbell said Pata's absence was especially felt on the Hurricanes' first defensive play. Junior Teraz McCray started at defensive tackle in Pata's place and played well, with two tackles and one tackle for loss. But the Hurricanes missed hearing Pata's voice in the huddle, where he usually was shouting instructions and encouragement.
"On the first play, he was missing," Campbell said. "He's noticeable because he's always so vocal. I miss him."
Before the game, Miami's players gathered in the end zone and prayed together. Campbell and cornerback Carlos Armour kneeled longer than the rest, then Campbell stood up and pointed to the sky. Other players had Pata's initials and jersey number written on tape, sweatbands and shoes.
Several players wrote messages on towels and wore them during warmups, but NCAA uniform rules prevented them from wearing the towels during the game.
"It's been difficult," quarterback Kirby Freeman said. "It's still the most important thing. It's not losing a game. It's still not having one of our brothers with us. All of us were so close to him. Just the reality that he's here one minute and not here the next is difficult."
Freeman, who made his first career start Saturday in place of injured Kyle Wright, said Pata's death really hit him while he was watching film earlier this week. During a practice in which Freeman was running Maryland's offense against Miami's first-team defense, Pata sacked him twice. To see Pata doing what he loved most was hard, Freeman said.
"I'll be honest, I've cried all week," Freeman said, while fighting back tears again. "I'm dehydrated right now. Coach Coker mentioned something about Bryan after the game and it just clogs up your throat and you start crying. That's the way I am right now."
Team chaplain Steve DeBardelaben said the school made counselors available throughout the week. Friday night, after the team arrived here, former Hurricanes linebacker Ray Lewis, now a star for the NFL's Baltimore Ravens, addressed the team at its hotel. Lewis was a college roommate of Marlin Barnes, a reserve linebacker who was murdered in his campus apartment in April 1996.
"It affects everybody differently," DeBardelaben said. "Everybody has different ways of grieving. Some will sob. Some will be very quiet. Some will be antsy. Some will get angry. Some will get fearful. If there were guys who didn't feel like they could be at practice, they weren't at practice."
Coker defended Miami's decision to play the game, saying his team believed it was what Pata would have wanted them to do.
"I think it was important for a lot of reasons," Coker said. "I've heard a lot of comments about us doing it for money, doing it for TV and that the ACC made us do it. We played the game because it was what was best for our team. I asked the players and they said Bryan would have wanted us to play."
Coker said he has been overwhelmed by the support he has received from other coaches around the country. Maryland's players voted to donate their per diem to a memorial fund set up for Pata's family.
"I told [Coker] I admired how his kids played," Maryland coach Ralph Friedgen said. "It's a difficult time. He had to come out and put a heck of a game plan together."
Indeed, a Miami team that had embarrassed itself many times this season -- during its ugly brawl against Florida International, a stunningly close win over Duke and an abysmal loss at Louisville -- didn't embarrass itself against Maryland.
The Hurricanes fell behind 7-0 right out of the gates, when Terrapins quarterback Sam Hollenbach threw a 65-yard touchdown to Darrius Heyward-Bey with 11:45 to go in the first quarter.
Miami put together a couple of good drives after that, but Jon Peattie missed a 50-yard field goal and it failed to covert a third-down pass after reaching Maryland's 39 on its next drive.
Then, after Peattie pinned the Terps at their 4 with a 35-yard punt, Hollenbach dropped back on first down and threw deep down the right sideline for Heyward-Bey. The freshman receiver beat cornerback Glenn Sharpe and safety Lovon Ponder came over too late, allowing Heyward-Bey to score a 96-yard touchdown. It was the longest passing play in Maryland history, breaking the previous long of 92 yards set in 1949, and the longest touchdown pass ever allowed by Miami. Senior Dan Ennis' extra-point kick put the Terps ahead 14-0 with 12:58 left in the second quarter.
But the Hurricanes fought their way back and trailed 14-10 at halftime, after Peattie kicked a 32- yard field goal and Freeman threw a 28-yard touchdown to Ryan Moore with 2:25 to go in the first half.
"They didn't give up at all," Coker said. "In fact, I think they came back with more resolve. This is our third straight loss. With where we're at in the season, that would have been very easy to do."
Miami's defense held the Terrapins to only 258 yards offense and shut them out in the second half. After Heyward-Bey's second touchdown, Maryland punted on each of its next seven possessions.
The Hurricanes pulled to within 14-13 on Peattie's 25-yard field goal with 11:02 remaining. That came after freshman receiver Ryan Hill, a converted defensive back, dropped a pass in the end zone.
But Maryland went three-and-out on each of its next two possessions, and the Hurricanes got the football back with 4:20 to go.
Freeman ran for four yards on first down. The Terps stuffed Javarris James for a three-yard loss on second. On third down, Freeman tried to throw a pass to Moore on the right side, but cornerback Josh Wilson dived and knocked the football high into the air. Linebacker Trey Covington intercepted the pass before stepping out of bounds at the Maryland 42.
"On that last drive before the interception, a lot of guys in the huddle were saying, 'Let's do it for Bryan,'" Freeman said. "Right then, we were trying to win it for Bryan."
After the interception, the Hurricanes again held the Terrapins without a first down, and Miami used its timeouts to preserve 1½ minutes to try for a potential game-winning field goal. On fourth down, Maryland's Adam Podlesh boomed a high punt to sophomore Bruce Johnson -- who was forced into punt return duties when Coker suspended junior Rashaun Jones before the game.
Johnson caught the punt, but was drilled by cornerback Isaiah Gardner and fumbled. Maryland's J.J. Justice recovered at the Miami 13. The Terrapins then ran off the final 74 seconds.
"I just knew we were going to win the game with a field goal late, but we just never got the opportunity," Coker said.
The loss left the Hurricanes with a 5-5 record for only the second time since 1980. They'll have to win one of their final two games -- at Virginia next Saturday or against Boston College on Nov. 23 -- to become eligible to play in a bowl game.
"I don't know how much fuel we've got left in the tank," Coker said.
But all of it -- the Hurricanes' fading postseason hopes, beating Virginia or Boston College and even Coker's job security -- doesn't mean much.
"The thing we need right now is love from each other, love from the community and love from the coaching staff," Freeman said. "Just because the week is over doesn't mean it's going to be different."
Mark Schlabach covers college football and men's college basketball for ESPN.com. You can contact him at schlabachma@yahoo.com.
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